Wild Swans

I have been reading the book Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang.

The author writes about the life of her grandmother, her mother, and herself. The first few chapters have been brutal in their description of her dysfunctional family and society. For example...

As a young girl, the grandmother was given to a local military VIP as a concubine in hopes of raising the father's social status. After spending about a week together, the VIP left without telling her where he was going... and didn't return for six years. This whole time she was expected to faithfully wait for him in the house.

The VIP eventually dies, the grandmother remarries, and the dishonor of the remarriage causes her step-son to kill himself...

The Japanese take over her city and act like tyrants, killing anyone they suspect has bad intentions... A classmate of the mother is executed in front of her schoolmates for reading banned literature.

The death, corruption, and bitterness woven throughout the first few chapters remind me that this world has had a lot of problems... Humans (not just Nephites, Lamanites, or terrorists) are capable of doing horrible things to each other.

How desperately we all need the Gospel of Jesus Christ.